The Garden Walk

I don't meditate.  That statement used to be said a bit defensively (OK, more than a bit.)  As in, "I can't meditate."  I do other things instead.  After surviving a weeklong meditation retreat in January, I can meditate, but I still do other things instead.  One of the things I do is walk in my garden, first thing in the morning, with a cup of coffee.  It is The Garden Walk.  "Scott, I'm going to walk in the garden now."  Sometimes I wear my pajamas.  (We have a fairly private yard.) I check the temperature to see if I need another layer, but hey, this is California.

I am greeted by my improbable Giant Coreopsis.

I began to realize the importance of what I was doing when I came across this quote in Angela Kirby's Gardening for Small Spaces.

"When I arrive in my garden, I make The Tour ... I step from the front window, turn to the right and make an infinitely detailed examination of every foot of ground, every shrub and tree, walking always over an appointed course.  There are certain very definite rules when you are Making the Tour.  The chief rule is that you must never take anything out of its order.  You may long to see if a crocus has come out ... but it is strictly forbidden to look before you have inspected all the various beds, shrubs and trees." (from Beverly Nichols, Down the Garden Path)

Then I noticed the Seaside Daisies and the Lilac Verbena
were the same color, palling around together. 

On a given day I might discover the first bloom on Ceanothus 'Concha', and notice for the first time that its tiny stamens look like fiber optic lights.  I notice a mushroom I've never seen before. (It's been a good year for mushrooms).  I stand stock still and let a hummingbird take a drink out of the water in motion in the fountain.  I see another Heuchera is budding.  A languishing 'Paradise' Manzanita is getting worse instead of better.  The first Parrot's beak flower has appeared.   The citrus is needing water.  And the strawberries are getting serious about flowering. The challenge for me is not to begin weeding or plotting the next improvement, but to just notice what my garden is up to.  Mindfulness, meditators call it.

Oh look!  'Bee's Bliss' Sage is in bloom.

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